With these instructions the Duque departed, travelling under the assumed name of Ducós, that his mission might not be suspected. Laforest remained at Valençay, still under a false name, and keeping out of sight, in the same part of the castle which Ferdinand and the Infantes inhabited; and before the Duque’s departure, Don Pedro de Macanaz was sent thither by Buonaparte to continue the conferences with this diplomatist. However much the Regency, or rather the Cortes (for the Regency was now the mere organ of its pleasure) might be surprised when the treaty was communicated to them, they were not unprovided ♦JAN. 8.♦ for such an event. The Regency accordingly expressed in reply their joy upon seeing the King’s signature, and being assured of his good health, and of that of the Infantes, and of the noble sentiments which he cherished for his dear Spain. “If,” they said, “they could but ill express their own satisfaction, still less could they the joy of that noble and magnanimous people who had sworn fidelity to him; nor the sacrifices which they had made, were making, and still would make, till they should see him placed upon the throne of love and justice which they had prepared for him: they must content themselves with declaring to his Majesty that he was the beloved and the desired of the whole nation. It was their duty to put him in possession of a decree passed by the Cortes on the 1st of January, 1811; so doing, they were excused from making the slightest observation upon the treaty, in which his Majesty had the most authentic proof that the sacrifices made by the Spaniards for the recovery of his royal person had not been made in vain. And they congratulated him upon seeing that the day was now near when they should enjoy the inexpressible happiness of delivering up to him the royal authority which they had preserved for him in faithful deposit during his captivity.” The decree which accompanied this letter was that by which the Cortes enacted that no treaty which the King might conclude during his restraint and captivity should be recognized by Spain. ♦ZAYAS AND PALAFOX RELEASED.♦